Let's Get Out There: How pizza across Sioux Falls serves as a connector

Pizza day was one of my favorite school lunches growing up. Yes, those brick squares were something I actually looked forward to and still ask my kids if I can join them for lunch when I see it on their menu.

That’s a hard no, by the way.

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But my older son doesn’t like pizza. Can you believe this? Who doesn’t like pizza?

He’s got to be one of a very few in town.

With more than over 20 locations, many of which are locally owned, we’ve got pizzerias seemingly everywhere. Even bars and breweries are slinging slices.

“It’s the ease of it,” said David Suarez, who is employed at both Boss’ Pizza and Chicken and Boston’s Pizza in the Ramada hotel. He’s been working in the Sioux Falls restaurant industry for more than 10 years and knows this to be true: Sioux Falls folks like takeout.  

And we like it all times of the day, too. Suarez said Boss’ will easily take 50 orders a night, and that’s after 10 p.m. They’ll deliver as late as 3 in the morning.

“The people you get to interact with are tremendous,” Suarez said. “Customers love to share, and I get to learn a lot about people just from delivering a pizza to them.”

Jon Oppold ,at Sunny’s Pizzeria, knows all about the loyal fellowship of pizza. He’s been serving “jowl-dropping” thin-crust pies in his neighborhood pizzeria across the street from the University of Sioux Falls for five years now. The eatery is celebrating his anniversary this weekend. And can you guess it? There’ll be free pizza.

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“We’re so thankful to be carried by the kindness of everyone who has chosen to try our pizza over the past five years,” Oppold said. “Many assume we’re sustained almost entirely by college students, but that’s not the case.

“We get a ton of families with kids, senior citizens, employees from the hospitals, folks from the neighborhood, and our own personal friends and family who frequent the pizzeria. It’s truly a community gathering place where all are welcome.”

Eat more pies:Pizza Cheeks will soon be serving a full menu at a new restaurant.

Pizza here is a connector, Oppold said. Like an ice-cold beer after work, there is a tradition to pizza and universal camaraderie Sioux Falls knows how to relish.

“We are a small, cozy neighborhood place, and I never want to lose that feel,” Oppold says. “We know people have many choices for food in Sioux Falls, and we’re honored each and every time someone chooses Sunny’s.”

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He’s right about our bounty of restaurants that continues to multiply, but we remain loyal to them all.

Pizza Cheeks, currently serving New York style takeout in the back of Hello Hi, announced last month they’ll be moving into a new location by the end of this year, in the former Kaladi’s Bistro space on 26^th Street and Minnesota Avenue.

Boston’s Pizza Restaurant and Sports Bar opened this past summer in the Ramada hotel, and the Big Poppa’s pizza food truck has expanded into a location of its own on South Minnesota Avenue.

There are holiday parties abound and lots of friends and family in town right now. Send carolers and pizza delivery to the door?

Let’s get out there.

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Here's a look at pizza places around town:

• Boss’s Pizza and Chicken is known for its late-night delivery, located at 2111 S. Minnesota Ave. and 5330 W. 26th St.
• Dareo’s Pizza opened in the 1980s at 3301 E. 26th St.
• Tomacelli’s Pizza is also known as one of the oldest pizza joints in Sioux Falls, which opened in the 1990s at 2909 E. 10th St. and 2309 W. 12th St.
• Find Papa Woody’s Wood Fired Pizza in the Jones421 Marketplace building, at 421 N. Phillips Ave. They also have a mobile pizza trailer and catering options.
• Another Chicago-style pizzeria is Charlie’s Pizza House on the corner of 69^th Street and Western Avenue. Charlie’s originally opened in Yankton in the 1950s and is informally known as the oldest pizzeria in South Dakota. The Sioux Falls location is at 6213 S Old Village Place.
• Pizza Cheeks recently announced their new location in the old Kaladi’s building on 26^th Street and Minnesota Avenue. They plan to open by the end of the year and will continue to serve slices at Hello Hi downtown.
• For more single slices, Covert Ale House will continue to serve Sunny’s slices at their new location, 605 S. Watson Avenue.
• Boston’s Pizza Restaurant and Sports Bar opened earlier this year and is located inside the Ramada by Wyndham Sioux Falls Airport Waterpark and Events Center, at 1301 W. Russell St.
• Last year, Pizza Rev reopened under a new name and ownership and is now called Invictus Pizza Kitchen, but the same customized pizza concept remains, at 3901 W. 49th St.
• Fiero Pizza also serves customized dishes, at 212 S. Phillips Avenue.
• Look’s Marketplace serves build-your-own wood fired pizzas, at 500 E. 69th St.
• MacKenzie River and Pizza, Grill and Pub is located at 236 S. Main Ave.
• Maribella Ristorante has pizzas on their menu, at 360 S. Main Ave.
• Cascata Italian Cuisine, the new traditional Italian restaurant inside Canopy by Hilton in the Steel District, also has pizza on their menu, at 120 E. Fourth Place.

If You Go

• Sunny’s Pizzeria will celebrate their fifth anniversary from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday at their restaurant, 1801 S. Walts Ave. Specials for the event will include $5 off any pizza, $5 pints of tap beer and buy-one-get-one, pizza giveaways and 20% off all merchandise. At 7 p.m., there will be Bingo.
• The Big Poppa’s Pizza food truck has just expanded into a restaurant at 2300 S. Minnesota Ave. They will host their grand opening Dec. 19. They serve New York hand-tossed and Chicago-style deep dish pizzas.

Let's Get Out There is a weekly column from Argus Leader's trending reporter, Angela George, who highlights local culture, entertainment, people and events.